"May we live in interesting times." These were the opening words from Scone Literary Festival patron Phillip Adams on Saturday morning before a weekend dedicated to the love of words.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The expression, commonly known as the 'Chinese curse', was the perfect segue into a weekend of important discussion varying in topics from history, politics and journalism to food, science and sport.
And, interesting times they are, as the world comes to terms with the fallout of the coronavirus outbreak, which was at the forefront of debate on many of the panels across the weekend.
While events across the country were being cancelled, the festival went on, despite last minute changes in venue to accommodate the adoption of NSW Health guidelines such as space between chairs and additional access to hand washing facilities and sanitisers.
Festival guest and six-time Walkley Award winning journalist Kerry O'Brien praised the festival's approach given the difficult circumstances.
"These are the issues that are confronting organisers of events all around Australia at the moment and I thought the response at the Literary Festival was very smart, very thoughtful," he said.
The Saturday morning session with O'Brien in conversation with Phillip Adams proved to be one of the more well-attended panels as they delved into the big issues affecting democracy and the future of the press such as the closure of Australian Associated Press, ABC raids by the Australian Federal Police, Julian Assange and the rise of citizen journalism.
Other major guests included feminist Australian columnist and author Jane Caro, contributing editor of Women's Agenda Georgie Dent and Australian Crime writer Chris Hammer.
Kerry O'Brien also praised the forward thinking Scone Literary Festival committee and the importance of regional writer's events.
"I always enjoy going to writer's festivals wherever they are, I am conscious of the fact that these things can be part of the lifeblood of a small community," he told The Advocate.
"I think it's the lifeblood of society really - the dissemination of ideas. Book readers I think are a great species.
"If you know people are reading books, you know that more likely than not they're curious people - they want to know about life, they want to understand, they want to explore ideas, they want to discuss ideas and they're good people to be around."
He said in regional and rural communities this discussion was particularly important because there are so many ways in which people outside the major cities are "treated as second-class citizens".
"It's too easy for the vast bulk of Australia who live in the cities to forget the rest and there is something special about country people," he said.
"When I worked for the ABC as a young reporter I used to love going bush and doing the kinds of stories that you could collect around the place.
"And country people always used to welcome us warmly because we're from the ABC.
"So I've always felt a link to the bush and I'm very pleased to be here."